ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Not even the architect of the 2018 Red Sox thought they would be this good.

Off to the best start in franchise history at 16-2 going into Friday night's game in Oakland, the Sox just knocked around the Los Angeles Angels, who own the second-best record in the American League, for a three-game sweep in which the Sox out-scored them 27-3.

Entering Friday, Boston's offense ranked first in the majors in runs (118), doubles (55), batting average (.292) and OPS (.859) while the pitching staff ranked second in ERA (2.63), third in WHIP (1.09) and sixth in strikeouts (181).

The Sox hit 8 homers in their first 18 games last year. They have 24 through 18 games this season.

Just like the Red Sox drew it up in the offseason, right?

"Well, we're really playing good ball right now, so I don't think you can ever say that you're anticipating this type of play," President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski said after his team finished off the sweep. "But we knew they had the ability to be better, to bounce back. We have very good players and they've done a nice job of doing that. We thought the capabilities were there. But for me to say we expected it to this point, that would be a bit much."

Having just entered his third full season as the Sox' president of baseball operations, if Dombrowski wanted to take a bugle horn to the top of the Prudential Center and yell out, "I told you so," it would certainly be within his rights.

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No team has won 16 of its first 18 games since the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers. According to MLB.com, two of the last four teams to go 16-2 have won the World Series (the 1984 Detroit Tigers and 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers).

Coming off a season in which the Sox had a powerless offense that ranked last in the league in homers before getting routed in the American League Division Series for the second straight year, the expectation was that Dombrowski would make some big moves in the offseason.

But the GM meetings passed in November, then the Winter Meetings went by in December, and still the Red Sox hadn't added any new players. All the while Dombrowski's message was the same: the offense would improve on its own.

No new players were needed, he said. The players they had would be better.

"We were thinking the possibility existed that we would have a better offense and all of our scouting, all of our analytics pointed to that."

Three weeks into the year and the Sox' boss is looking like a fortune teller. Of the 10 returning position players with more than 25 at-bats, seven of them have an OPS higher than their OPS last year. Jackie Bradley Jr., Christian Vazquez and Eduardo Nunez are the only outliers.

The addition of J.D. Martinez late in spring training has undoubtedly helped. After signing a $110-million contract, Martinez has 10 extra-base hits while hitting .338 with a .983 OPS in his first 16 games.

First-time skipper Alex Cora has downplayed the team's hot start, as have most of the players. But the new manager has made a difference, his boss thinks.

"All along I've had a real good feel for his leadership, communication, knowledge, what points he's wanted to get across," Dombrowski said.

Does he feel validated?

"No, we're early in the season so you keep things in perspective," he said. "We have a long haul ahead of us. It's nice to see. You don't get on these type of runs very often. There are a lot of things going well for us. But you don't get carried away and know you have a long way to go."

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